Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hurricane Ike may have taken away my oven, but it sure didn't take away my will to bake (though it did provide the inspiration) for the Iron Cupcake Earth, Battle Basil Challenge.Since we still don't have power at our house (going on Day12), and baking without an oven can be a bit challenging, I spent Sunday baking at my parent's house. Their basil survived Ike's strong winds and rain, and presented a perfect opportunity to add local ingredients to this month's challenge. Here is the basil basking in the morning sunlight, ready for the rare opportunity to be paired with a cupcake.My inspiration for these cupcakes came in several forms. I wanted the frosting swirls to look like a satellite view of the hurricane, which meant leaving a hole in the middle to represent the eye of the storm. After the storm, our garage was speckled with leaf debris, and in cupcake form this meant torn pieces of basil as the "sprinkles".The morphology of this cupcake was kept pretty simple with a traditional chocolate cupcake filled with basil infused chocolate mousse and topped with swirled vanilla bean and basil buttercream.These cupcakes were delicious, just the perfect amount of basil without being overwhelming and ruining the overall chocolate flavor.And don't forget, you decide who wins Battle Basil in the Iron Cupcake Earth Challenge! Voting starts September 27 at noon here. And the winner will receive lots of cool prizes from Etsy artist Metal Sugar, Fiesta Products, Hello Cupcake, Jessie Steele Aprons, Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home. Lots of other vegan bloggers are participating, so take a minute and vote for your favorite so a vegan cupcake wins this round!

And I must apologize for being a bit absent on many of your blogs lately, I feel so out of the loop! Without power I have limited internet time at work during the day. I am trying though and will get around to commenting eventually... thanks for your patience. And I promise my next post won't be anything Ike related!

Wow! Those cupcakes look so good I wanted to reach into the computer and grab one for myself. I am glad you used Ike as a theme and don't apologize for continuing to post about it. Surviving a hurricane can be an emotional time. I survived Floyd in '99 so I understand. You are a real sport and to stay dedicated to the contest even with limited internet access is a real feat. Most would have called it a month but you are awesome! Keep up the good work. You have that contest in the bag, good luck!

You are awesome! I can't even bring myself to bake cupcakes under normal circumstances. Your effort deserves to be recognized. EVERYONE MUST VOTE FOR AMANDA'S CUPCAKES!! I'm sorry you're still without power. I've heard so many people say the aftermath of this storm has really changed their perspective. I feel bad we got our power back so quickly - we reverted back to our lazy ways.

I love that you paired these cupcakes with your experience! They turned out beautiful.

I myself had trouble with this challenge, as my initial thoughts didn't pan out. In the end I couldn't stay away from chocolate either. The basil certainly added a tasty flavor I'd never have tried otherwise.

You're so freakin' creative! I love the whole hurricane frosting thing. You folks down there in hurricane land are always know how to take a bad thing and make it seem okay.

The cupcakes are just beautiful. And I admire your perserverance. I decided not to participate in this month's Iron Cupcake since I have to move this weekend. It's kind of a lame excuse, but you made cupcakes in spite of not even having an oven! That's awesome!

Your cupcake is beautiful! I was afraid of the whole basil ingredient. I am so sorry you are still without power. My family now has power, but not much of a home. The mobile home is in pretty bad shape. At least you, your family and mine made it through. Hang in there a keep up the awesome baking!

I'm so glad you're okay!! Those cupcakes are literally making my mouth water. They look AMAZING! I love basil with fruit desserts (like sorbet), but have not yet paired it with chocolate. It sounds quite tempting!